Stories for October 21st 2016

Brazil’s national development bank has frozen $13.5bn of funds for 47 overseas projects, including those in Angola, Mozambique, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, as yet more corruption charges are brought against politicians and executives arising from the Lava Jato corruption probe.

Falkland Islands Tourist Board Interim CEO, Steph Middleton gave a short presentation on the growth of visitor numbers in recent years at this week’s public meeting. She said there were 1,461 land-based tourists last year, spending about £2m or £120 per person per night - the best year since 2007-8.

Falkland Islanders has been warned that fresh produce may be in short supply for some time to come due to changes in the Chilean Customs' procedures. Stanley Growers owner Tim Miller said that a large order for fruit and vegetables was not shipped from Santiago last week, as Customs officials at Punta Arenas insisted for the first time that LATAM airline provide them, in advance, with exact weight and contents of the cargo.

Prime Minister Theresa May told EU leaders that Britain would not just rubber-stamp agreements made between the other member states when they meet as 27. In her first European Council, she said that as long as the UK was a full member of the EU, it wanted a seat at the table for discussions over the bloc’s future.

The European Central Bank left its key interest rates and its bond-buying stimulus program unchanged on Thursday as it seeks more data on the strength of Europe’s modest economic recovery. The decision came at a meeting of the bank’s 25 member governing council at its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany.

Spain’s caretaker Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel García-Margallo, claimed that he had held “confidential” talks on co-sovereignty with “personalities” in Gibraltar. However the minister gave no indication as to who he had spoken to, according to Spanish press reports.

Extreme left wing organizations protested on Thursday outside Britain's embassy in Buenos Aires against UK military exercises which are being carried out in the disputed Falkland Islands. The groups also slammed the Argentine government's pursuit of closer ties with the United Kingdom.

Brazil's central bank cut its key interest rate for the first time in more than three years on Wednesday as a new center-right government's reforms fuel hopes of a recovery in Latin America's largest economy. The bank lowered the benchmark Selic rate by 0.25 points, to 14%, still one of the world's highest, and cited a dip in inflation and forecasts that a long recession -- Brazil's worst in a century -- is nearing its end.